Ronaldo double rescues a point for Juventus at Roma

MILAN – Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice to salvage a point for 10-man Juventus in a 2-2 draw at Roma as Napoli hammered Genoa 6-0 in Serie A on Sunday.

Champions Juventus was trailing 2-1 and a man down after an hour at the Stadio Olimpico after a Jordan Veretout brace for the hosts and Adrien Rabiot’s sending off.

But Ronaldo’s header grabbed the equaliser in the 69th minute to avoid handing new Juventus coach Andrea Pirlo the first defeat.

Edin Dzeko was back on the Roma front line after his move to Juventus fell through, the Bosnian having missed last week’s trip to Verona which ended in a forfeit defeat for the capital side for fielding an unregistered player.

Instead, new Juventus’ signing Alvaro Morata got his first start after his move from Atletico Madrid earlier this week.

But the champions were pushed hard by the hosts with Veretout opening from the spot in the 31st minute after a Rabiot handball.

The French midfielder added a second shortly before the break just after Ronaldo had equalised for the first time.

Another handball, this time Lorenzo Pellegrini’s, resulted in Juventus being awarded a penalty allowing Ronaldo to slot in.

The Portuguese got his second with 20 minutes to when his head met a Danilo cross seven minutes after Rabiot was sent off for a second yellow card. – AFP, September 28, 2020